Her Respect
by HemlockStones
Summary: Respect? A man? No, of course not. Artemis would never respect a man. Such a thing was impossible, laughable even. But, despite what she ever said about it herself, there were undoubtedly some men whose names had stuck in her head for all those years. And when their names were mentioned, it was never in distaste. These are the stories of how she came to know them.
1. Menes - The King

**Chapter One - King Menes - The Monarch**

The world turned lazily, in the sun peaked over the horizon, bathing the endless desert landscape with a soft golden glow. The disc of light slowly lifted the cool of the night from the rolling dunes of sand.

Creatures of the day began to emerge from their burrows. or wake from their simple night time slumber.

Dozens of animal species made of the desert ecosystem, most of them small. Rodents or snakes, or perhaps a insect or their cousins. There were birds here and there, who picked off these small creatures and fed of of them, as other sources of food were non existent.

But people were seldom interested in these small game, it wasn't enough to feed anyone. Besides, most people eat grains, grown on the banks of the river Nile, five miles to the west. The hunters in these lands hunted or sport first, and food second.

Slowly and carefully, a figure, dressed lightly and loosely crept over the top of one of the dunes. Once at the top, the figure squatted down, resting their knee on the desert floor, not yet worried about the heat as daybreak had not been long passed.

From their back, they drew a bow, and slipped an arrow onto the string. Carefully, they drew back, closing one eye to maximize vision with the other.

Down the shaft of the arrow, they saw their target. A gazelle, standing nearly still a good hundred meters away. The figure was not put off by the distance, they had dealt with more difficult lengths.

They lined up the hot, making sure that missing was inevitable, and then while breathing out, they fired.

The arrow sped through the air, and cut into the gazelle. A fatal shot to the had, it died before it even hit the ground.

Lowering the bow, the figure stood up, and raced down the sand dune to their fallen game. An act that required a mixture of running, sliding, and nearly falling to be accomplished.

One at the animal, the kneel beside it, pulling a knife from its sheath. They got to work, stripping the animals flesh, salvaging all the edible parts while discarding those non consumable. In the desert, for a traveling hunter, this is how they ate. No farmer would give grain to a foreigner.

They had just flicked the meat off their hands and was about to place it into a large sack that they had acquired when they felt a prickling on the back of their neck.

They didn't move, knowing that doing so could perhaps be the last action they ever made.

A harsh voice spat behind them. "Stand up, girl _."_

The young woman slowly pushed herself off the ground and straightened her posture, looking straight ahead.

The pressure on the back of her head increase. She felt a hand start to run down her side, and had to resist the urge to cut it off. It stopped at her sheath, unhooking it from her waist and tossing it aside. Then the hand moved to her quiver, and removed her arrows, removing her bow from her back as well, sliding it out across her arm.

There was a soft noise as it hit the sand. "Turn around, girl. Slowly."

The woman turned, but not slowly. She blotted, foot flying backwards, there was a grunt as it connected with the man's face, sending him sprawling backwards.

Dagger in hand she turned around to face the man and was face to face with a dozen burly armed warriors. Some with spears, most with swords. She faltered.

The man she kicked was on the ground, blood flowing freely from his nose, which was bent at a horrible angle, another man knelt next to him. He glared at her with anger and absolute hatred.

A growl crept up from his throat. "You little b-"

"Enough!"

The man's voice died, and with it the slur of profanities he undoubtedly was going to hurl at her. The warriors looked behind them ,and slowly separated into two groups, leaving a path or someone to walk down the middle.

It was not the figure the young woman was expecting. She was expecting a large man, figure fit to be a leader in a world where men ruled. Instead she saw rather the opposite, while still a man, he was no Greek hero. He was elderly, what hair he still had going grey. His posture was stopped somewhat, and he moved more slowly than his men. Around his shoulders, instead of the leather armor that his warriors wore, he wore cloth stitched of gold, white, and blue. The robe trailing down onto the ground.

He stopped in front of the young woman, dark brown eyes looking into silver. The young woman recognized the expression, he was reading her.

"What is your name, child?" He said at last.

For a moment, the young woman considered not answering. He was a man, sure he had been polite so far, and had called off his brutes, but he was still a man. He probably was one of those brutes in the beginning.

But something caused her voice to rise up. "Artemis." She responded.

The old man cocked his head. "That is not a name of these lands." He said, simply. No questioning tone. He spoke again. "Do you come from far away?"

"Yes." She answered again.

The old man nodded, and turned towards his men. "You see? Her offense was not born of intention."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "My offense?"

"These lands are sacred lands. The hill you came down from is the birthplace of the god Aten. The disc of the sun. These lands surrounding it, are lands where no hunting may take place. All game here belongs to the gods."

Artemis nodded. Tempted to inform him that the god Aten did not exist. The sun was driven by Helios, not some made up false god.

As if sensing her disbelief, he spoke again. "You may not be of these lands, Artemis, and therefore may not share our beliefs. But I hope you will understand, they are ours. And I would appreciate if you were courteous of them."

Artemis bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something she would regret. Instead she once again opted for simple. "Of course."

The old man nodded. "If you wish to hunt, we will take you to a land where the game is plentiful."

"Thank you but I can find my own way. I am a huntress."

The old man raised an eyebrow. "And I am a king."

And from there on out, there was no arguing. The old man got onto a hammock, which was hoisted onto the shoulders of two of the men, using a long stick. Artemis walked alongside him.

"How far away are these lands." Artemis was flashed a glare by the surrounding warriors. Presumably by not addressing the king with a title of respect.

"Five or six miles, Artemis," said the king. "They are lands where your hunting skill is allotted but also tested. Perhaps you will learn something new."

"I think my hunting skills are more than up to par, thank you." Artemis said dangerously.

The old man didn't even turn to her. "Then how do you explain your last kill?"

Artemis was stunned. To her, the hunt had been perfect. "What?"

"Your stance was all wrong, it was a wonder you even hit your mark. You are a hunter too used to sprinting after your prey, and firing on the move. You must learn patience."

"What? I have patience. I certainly have enough patience to hunt." Artemis' voice was that of wounded pride.

"Yes, you have much patience. So much so, that you waited a whole twenty seconds before asking how much further we had to go."

Artemis sputtered.

The king turned to her. His eyes kind. "My words are not to be taken as insults, Artemis. Everyone starts somewhere. You are young, and have grown up with an environment inhibiting your ability to hunt among these dunes. The desert here is unlike anything else on earth, it tests all those who enter it. You just have yet to pass yours."

Artemis didn't say anything, she kept her eyes fixed on the ground.

The king had a look of empathy in his eyes. "I was in your position once, do not feel bad, soon you shall have risen above it." Then he turned back, so that his body was parallel with the hammock, and closed his eyes.

Artemis walked with the men, they, not wanting to talk to her, pretend as if she was not there. She returned the ever so courteous gesture. They walked on for several more miles, in the distance she could hear the sound of flowing water. Plant life began to become more and more frequent around her, and she saw animals the likes of which she had never seen before as they scurried across the desert floor.

Eventually, they rose up onto a small dune, and looking over Artemis gasped at what entered her vision.

Flanked by trees, and foliage of a vibrant nature, a vast river spanned the gap between the two massive chunks of land. The sparkling water flowed slowly under the mid morning sun. She watched as massive creatures, with snouts larger than many animals she had seen,waded through the water, opening their massive jaws and butting heads with one and other.

Her astounded expression had not gone unnoticed. The king seemed to materialize beside her.

"The majestic hippopotamus. One of the many kings of the Nile river."

"What, you, the hippo, and a few water birds?" She asked.

The king's eyes twinkled in amusement. "More or less." He led her down the slope of the sand dune.

"Here, you can work your hunting to perfection, there are dozens of animal species of all sorts, that are more than populous among these banks. And, if the game on land does not suit you, fishing is a peaceful act you may give a try."

"With what pole?" Artemis asked.

"One that you craft yourself, of course." Artemis groaned slightly, as the king chuckled. "And now, unless you have anything further to ask, we shall be taking our leave. We have our own hunt, you see."

Artemis nodded. "Yes. But, just one thing."

The king motioned for her to continue.

"None of your mean are addressing you by anything other than, king. And even that is rare. If you could tell me, could I know your name?"

The warriors had a look of surprise on their ace. Evidently, no one asked the king for his name. But the king himself just smiled.

"Menes." He said, and nodded to her. "I wish you look, young Artemis. Perhaps one day, they shall tell tales of you, when my name has been long forgotten."

At the time, Artemis was little more than confused by the statement. It would be many, many years before she realized that the old king Menes had given her one of the grandest compliments that he could have given anyone.

Slowly, the old king clambered back onto his hammock, and he, with his warrior guards, slowly disappeared into the desert.

Artemis watched him go, a strange new feeling inside her. One she had never felt before in a man. Though they had spoken for little more than ten minutes, and known each other for little more than an hour, something told Artemis there was a lot more to the king than she could imagine. And that it was mostly good. That feeling she felt was respect.

And when, an hour or two later, after Artemis had spent the time grinding her skills to perfection as solidly as she could. When the body of the great king Menes washed up onto the shore, torn apart and beaten as if attacked by a wild animal, she folded his arms over his chest, put her knife in his grasp, and closed his eyes. Murmuring a quick prayer to the embodiment of death, before setting back off across the desert.

 **AN:**

 **Yeah yeah, not the best thing I've ever written, ut it's hard to write about a man whose personality is completely unknown to us.**

 **As you can see, this is another new story of mine, and my latest idea. You read fanfics all over the place, mentioning how Artemis has never held respect for any man in her life, except for maybe Percy. And that seems to be the approach of the book as well. Personally, I don't take it. She has been alive for over three thousand years, she must hare come across at least a couple scores of men who she had respect for. Whether for their personality, service to their country, addition to art or science, or their height of respect that they are held in by many people.**

 **Essentially, this story will be a series of one shots. All through out history. There is no chronological order, I simply write about whoever I think about that Artemis may have respected in the past. There will be both nonfictional and fictional characters in the story, though the nonfictional ones will be more common.**

 **As usual, read, review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed it, and if you didn't go warship for three days at the Pharaoh Menes' tomb as an apology for offending him.**

 **Also, if you have an idea for a person or me to write about, feel free to submit it in a review. Men only though, a woman would kind of defeat the point of the whole story.**

 **Until next time, this is Hemlock Stones signing off.**


	2. Nikola Tesla - The Scientist

**AN:**

 **Yeah, yeah, it;s been awhile. Longer than I said I would be. But in my defense, I just started school once again, and I'll put it this way, I'm regretting a couple of my class choices.**

 **As usual, I shall talk in full at the bottom of the chapter. This one is shorter than any I have written before, but I realized that this story will not have very long chapters. They for the most part will be single meetings with one person, they really can't be too long without meandering. But we'll see.**

 **Now, read, read you fools!**

1892.

Electricity.

It is something that humans take for granted. We, as a species, just assume that this powerful force is harness and will be brought into our homes for us to use for whatever miscellaneous task we see fit to put it to.

Humans tend to forget, that there was a time where the decision of how power would be transported was not only a major issue, but a competition. One with lethal results.

"The decision is simple, good citizens of New York. Direct Current. Bringing power safely to your homes, with the speed expected of the modern age!"  
Artemis stood among a crowd of people. Most dressed well, but here and there she could see the signs of poverty that characterized sections of the large city. The poor had to travel in order to be where they were today. The crowd was stood in a wealth part of the city. In front of them was a stage, and on it a man. Walking back and forth, gesturing grandly towards contraptions and diagrams and throwing his voice as far as he could so that they all could hear.

"But, you say, what about Alternating Current? I have heard that it is the way we should power our homes. Wrong! Alternating Current is evil. Dangerous. A blight on the face of scientific prowess." The man crowed, spreading his arms out wide, shouting to the people. A vague smugness in his tone.

"Alternating Current does nothing but kill. It is unsafe. An average jolt of Alternating Current into your homes would electrocute each and every one of you!" People around her gasped and gossiped, she rolled her eyes.

"You don't believe me, you say?" The man made a point of cupping his hand to his ear as he said this. "You have no proof, you say? Well, if it's proof you want, it's proof you'll get." The man clapped his hands.

Behind him, a pair of curtains opened. He turned, gesturing at a strange contraption that dominated the entire back wall of the stage.

At the very rear, there was a machine. Electrical, Artemis had recently learned to recognize such. There were wires leading from it, and it was with horror that Artemis' eyes followed them.

There were two cages in stage. In each one was a dog. Happily panting, knowing nothing of the situation that was about to befall it.

Suddenly the crowd grew loud. The man had said something else, but she hadn't heard. They were cheering.

She could do little more than stare in disbelief. The negative qualities of humanity never failed to surprise her.

She heard a grunt of disgust beside her. Her head turned. Standing to her left was a man. Tall, over six feet. Much taller than those around him. His head was covered by a hat, and his eyes by a pair of spectacles, but she could tell his hair was brown. Due to a mustache that graced his upper lip.

"It is an unnecessary, indecent, and cruel work of slander upon the name of Alternating Current. An insult to the minds of science. Since when did we ever stoop so low."

The man caught her gaze and took note of her expression. "In a few minutes, that man is going to throw a switch, and electrical current will flow into one of the cages. And all of these people will watch as one of these poor dogs is electrocuted. Slowly, and painfully until it dies."

His spoke with an accent. However she was unable to place it. His voice held a strange tone as well. It was almost nonexistent, but also quite the opposite at the same time. It was the tone of a studious mind, looking at an experiment. Though she could swear she could hear disgust in there somewhere.

"And the people will watch it?" She asked, disbelievingly.

The man nodded. "Of course, For them, it is little more than an afternoon show. The children will probably cheer too."

She felt a sudden feeling of minor nausea as the image popped into her head.

"Is there any way to halt the proceedings?" She asked weakly.

"No. Any interfering would be treated as a crime, punishable by extended prison sentences. These electrical companies are all backed by corporations, and they in turn by the police. It is not possible to do anything about it." She was somewhat surprised to hear a slight disguised bitterness in his voice. He was just some man. Since when did they care about the rights of anything but themselves.

She brushed the feeling aside. "Well, sir, if no one else is going to do anything about it." Artemis began to walk forward, shouldering her way through the people behind her. She was aware of the man trying to halt her, and she quickened her pace.

Protests were thrown all around her as she shoved people out of the way, the man's accented voice throwing apologies left and right. The stage was almost upon her.

She broke through the throng and was at the front of the stage. The man looked in her direction, stopping in his pacings and likewise in his speech. Distracted by the noise of the crowd that had been made as she pushed through.

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the speaker.

There was something of a smile on his face, his hands grasped his suit jacket tightly as he bounced on the balls of his feet. "Well, what a surprise. Mr. Tesla. How grand of you to join us. Have a few words to share with us, words from the great scientist of Alternating Current?"

The man Tesla's expression was unreadable under the wide brim of his hat. From the crowd, boos and a few laughs were thrown at him under the encouragement of the spokesman. Artemis scoffed in disgust.

But he did not seem perturbed by the jeers. Instead his tipped back his hat, gave a small shrug, and jumped up onto the podium. The spokesman backed away slightly to keep from getting knocked over by the much taller figure.

Tesla adjusted his coat and walked around the stage. He stopped at the edge of the wiring, peering back into the contraption, made up of little bits and pieces that Artemis had no idea how to interpret.

He walked back and forth a few times. The crowd began to mutter, unsure of what he was doing. With a flair of his coat, the man turned back front of the stage and walked calmly up to the front and center. He nodded to the spokesman who stepped aside, a confused expression on his face.

Tesla took a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment before speaking. His voice was calm, even, but still loud enough to be heard by all.

"Behind me is a battery," he said. "This battery holds electric power. Connected to the battery is one wire." He paused a moment to let that sink in. "That wire, trails along the stage to this point," he gestured to the dog cage on the left. The sign above the cage said Alternating Current. "At this point, the wire is clamped to the metal. When the battery is activated, this cage, ladies and gentlemen, this cage will be electrified and the poor mutt within will be electrocuted to death."

The crowd's voice rose up in terrified whispers, as everyone struggle to lament to those beside them before Tesla spoke again.

"The cage to my right, is hooked up to nothing," Tesla said simply.

This time the crowd made no noise. Everyone looked up at the stage. Eyes seemed to shift to the spokesman, who was suddenly looking quite uncomfortable.

Tesla clapped his hands together, and focus of the crowd returned to him. "The cage on the left, is connected to the battery, by Direct Current."

He looked around the crowd, his eyes lingering on no one longer than only a moment. "I will not tell you what to think, or what to say. You can watch this even and formulate yourselves, but you will do so, knowing what I've told you." He gestured to the man in the expensive coat. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is what science has been reduced to."

Each and every man watch silently in the crowd, as Tesla calmly turned away from the stage and walked back off. Landing gracefully on the ground in front of him. Then, with a nod towards Artemis, he began to walk away. Hands folded casually behind his back.

At that moment, the spokesmen seemed to regain himself. But Artemis only partially heard him, as she began walking after the man, waving through the crowd to try and catch up to him, who was impressively brisk for his size.

"Slander. Pure, unjust slander. Just words, words and mockery thrown at art, science, of which-" The man was shouting at the crowd, his face red as he tried to raise his voice over the throng of protests emanating from the crowd of citizens all making quite a racket.

Artemis reached the edge of the crowd, ignoring the offended exclamations from the men she had pushed aside to get out.

"Wait." She called out. Tesla was already a ways down the street, but he heard her, or he must have, because he turned back to face her."

She struggled with her words, unsure of how to speak. Men were practically another species to her. And, to put it lightly, she wasn't used to perceiving them as being at least on the level of women. She bit her lip, trying to force the words out of her mouth.

"Thank you." The words were foreign in the current context. It felt strange on her tongue, but it also felt right.

Tesla seemed to notice her internal struggle, even from his distance. He nodded, and tipped his hat to her. "Your welcome, miss." He the donned his hat and continued strutting down the street, turned a corner, and then he was gone.

 **AN:**

 **So, the great Nikola Tesla has commanded the respect of the maiden goddess, through partially his intelligence, but mostly his humanity. Now, I have no idea if this actually happened or not, I remember my grandfather, who was a scientist, telling em a story about Tesla quite similar to this. Though he may have just been describing an urban legend or making it up, I don't know, the point is that it sounds like the kind of thing a man like him could have done.**

 **This chapter may not have satisfied your frustration with me, but others will be coming soon. At least I hope, that is what I said last time after all. Next update will probably be The Boys are Back in Town or Hellhound on my Trail. Son of the King will wait a bit, unfortunately I am having an attack of writers block in that story. I know how I want it to end, but I can't decide how to connect what I have to the end. Who knows, maybe someone will spontaneously give me an idea, (Looking at you NoTears, JohnnyBenchCalled, and Evoque) But in all seriousness, one again I say who knows.**

 **Read, review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed it. And if you didn't, you're probably flipping burgers because you don't know shit!**

 **Until next time, this is Hemlock Stones signing off.**


	3. AN

**AN: Also known as, the entire document.**

 **Greetings loyal readers, I will start this AN out by apologizing to you all. I have been forced to go on hiatus by unfortunate circumstances.**

 **For those of you who are additionally curious, there is a rather major reason behind this break, and this reason is one I hope that you can all understand. A few days ago, I endured an accident. Presently I am fine, except for one tiny detail. Four of my fingers are currently broke, and two hurt like hell still. I am typing this AN with four fingers across two hands.**

 **Because of this, I will be taking a break from writing, as my current writing process is not only difficult and painful, but it is agonizingly slow. And I feel that I will produce nothing more than filler after filler in this state. So I have deiced to wait until I can type again before continuing. I do not know when this is, but I promise it will be as soon as I can make it.**

 **Thank you for those of you who understand, and once again, than you all for your continuous support on my work. It makes me very happy to see.**

 **One additional thing, I was asked at one point by a fan to make a list of themes for the Percy Jackson characters. I have put that list on my profile. While it is not complete, I will be working on that since it requires very little actual typing. Check it out, and send me a message with what you think, and maybe what you thin could be themes for the characters I haven't included.**

 **Now, without further ado, until next time, this is Hemlock Stones signing off.**


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